Growing office worries Army leader

PEO-EIS site

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — As the Army, Defense Department and entire federal government continue to streamline operations through integration and staff reductions, one Army leader is worried about a different problem: the growing size of his office.

The Army's program executive officer for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS) has vast responsibilities, ranging from upgrading the service's tactical communications in southwest Asia to leading the Army's biometrics efforts.

With those duties and numerous others related to Army communications and infrastructure, Kevin Carroll, the Army's PEO-EIS, might be expected to welcome as many people into his shop as the Army could spare. But the opposite is true.

If PEO-EIS were a commercial vendor, there wouldn't be a concern about adding more staff because that is a natural outgrowth of gaining increased responsibilities. But Carroll said the size of his staff, which now includes about 650 people and is still growing, is "a worry for sure."

"I'm worried we're going to lose track or let something drop," he said following a June 3 speech at the Army Small Computer Program's Information Technology conference. However, he was quick to add that PEO-EIS is organized in selected functional areas and that program managers are encouraged to execute without being hindered by top-level bureaucracy.

Carroll said he encourages an "entrepreneurial feeling" within the program so program managers and their deputies can work together with minimal oversight. "All in all, it's not bad."